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World’s Student Christian Federation. 
European Student Relief Series No. 6. 


RELIEF AND ONE 
UNDERGRADUATE. 


‘But Undergraduates can do so little,” is the damping 
axiom offered to the relief campaigner, a hundred times a day! 
It is an article of our faith, that the undergraduate both can 
and does give liberally; as evidence of our faith we can offer 
abundant and visible proof in the currency of many nations, but 
where money fails him, the undergraduate has other gifts to 
bring, e.g., resource and perseverance in raising supplies in kind. 
Holland has provided an inspiring instance of successful effort 
of this kind on the part of one undergraduate. Our Dutch 


secretary writes, October, 1920 :— 


‘“In the spring of 1920 the call from the Federation to help the 
starving students in Vienna reached the office of the Student Christian 
Movement of the Netherlands. Its officers had their hands full with 
the work of their own movement, and the movement itself had a very 
large and increasing deficit to face. Yet they were eager to help, 
so they looked for someone willing to spend time on this job. A law 
student, P., of Leiden University was at once thought of, and as soon 
as approached to do the work of raising the necessary money and 
food, he immediately promised to try. 

It was obviously impossible quickly to raise a sufficient amount 
from the student body itself; for, first, there had just been several 
relief collections in the universities; and, second, a great number of 
the students themselves come from the middle classes, so hard hit 
by the economic consequences of the war. If the needed amount 
of relief was to be secured in a short time it must be done outside 
the universities. So it was decided that P. should spend a few 
weeks getting introductions and visiting merchants. 

The first introduction he got from a member of the student 
movement to her father, a shipowner in Rotterdam, who received 
him well, and not only gave him a gift, but also introductions to a 
number of his colleagues. One day and a half spent in Rotterdam 
gave a net result of £150. 

Experience soon taught that, if a man got interested and gave 
something himself, he was also willing to give introductions to 
others; also, that if you want to get something worth while from a 
firm, it is absolutely necessary to see personally the chief director. 
It is no use seeing subordinates, for then you never get more than a 
pound or two. ‘Therefore, if your introduction ts not sufficient to get 


yourself’ admitted, get more and better introductions until you are 
inside. In one place it was necessary to return several times before 
a five minutes interview was granted, but the net result was one 
thousand guilders (£100). 

When the visits to Rotterdam had yielded money enough to make 
sure that the movement could afford to forward a certain amount of 
gifts in kind to Vienna, careful attention was given to the list of 
articles which the appeal had mentioned as especially needed in 
Vienna, i.e., cocoa, sugar, flour, soap, clothing. For each of these 
articles introductions were sought to several different factories or 
firms. 

Cocoa came first. A good introduction to a well-known factory 
yielded six hundred pounds. At the next factory another introduc- 
tion, coupled with the fact that the colleague had given so much, 
brought in another five hundred. The third factory could not help 
doing the same thing. 

Cocoa without sugar is a poor thing. So P. made his next dash 
for sugar. Fortunately Holland is a sugar producing country. Also, 
he was lucky enough to get very good introductions to the biggest 
company. The difficulty always encountered was that every firm 
said: ‘ We have already given to the ‘‘ Save the Children Fund,’’ 
to the “‘ Labourers’ Fund,’’ etc.’ : only by insisting that they had not 
yet given for the students, could one get anything. This particular 
company, however, was difficult to get at, and few collectors had 
succeeded in seeing its chief directors. So here was comparatively 
fresh ground, and, apparently, P. arrived at a good moment. The 
result was a gift of twenty thousand pounds of sugar ! 

The next item was soap. A little strategy landed him in the 
room of the director of one of the factories which were doing a large 
business. ‘ Yes, I quite understand, but I have already given to so 
many relief committees for Vienna... . . Well, I expect students 
must wash themselves too.’ Some telephoning with his colleague 
in another room. ‘ Will you be satisfied with five thousand parcels 
of half-a-pound each?’ A rather staggered look and a joyful 
assent. Over a ton of soap seemed sufficient to clean the whole of 
Vienna University for some time! 

Several introductions to cloth merchants were also gathered. 
The first visit yielded a hundred yards of cloth, enough for over 
thirty suits, on condition that the suits were made in Holland and 
sent ready made to Vienna. The next problem was to find a tailor 
who would do the job gratis. Passing one of the largest shops of 
ready-made suits, P. thought this shop could do it as well as another. 
He entered the shop and asked to see the director. ‘Ah, you mean 
Mr. So-and-So? His office is round the corner.’ Round the corner, 
of course, now the name of the director was discovered, he did not 
ask to see ‘the director’ but to see ‘ Mr. So-and-So.’ This gentle- 
man seemed very sympathetic, but as his shop was only a branch of 
the concern he had not authority to grant the request, but offered 
an introduction to the chief director. With such a good introduction, 
P. felt it a pity merely to ask for the making of thirty suits; better 
ask for more cloth. Result—five hundred yards more. And another 
tailor made the original thirty suits. 

Next, someone thought of fish, and so Scheveningen and Katwyk 
were visited. On enquiry, it was found that all the shopowners 


formed one union, so he and one of his friends went to see the 
chairman of the union, who agreed to propose a motion at the next 
meeting that each member should give one or two barrels of herrings, 
so that from both places a railway truck of fish could be sent to 
Vienna students. This plan succeeded splendidly. 

Potatoes seemed good to send. These could be got near home, 
for the farmers of Gramsbergen, the village where P.’s father is 
doctor, had a lot of potatoes. The ministers and sessions of the 
churches (Holland is mostly Presbyterian) were taken into confidence, 
and on Sunday, after the service, the situation was explained to the 
congregations and each farmer asked to give one or two sacks of 
potatoes. The whole village, rich and poor, responded heartily to 
this call, and two railway trucks with potatoes went from this village 
to Vienna. This was indeed a real community gift., for even the 
poorest farmer contributed his share. 

In much the same way as these first articles, flour, beans, oil, 
candles, and other useful things were gathered in. 

When the scheme started, the aim was to get one railway truck- 
ful of food for Vienna students, but when things went so successfully 
one truck did not seem satisfactory. The result was that, after two 
weeks’ hard work, P. had a little train of five railway trucks, one 
with sugar, one with fish, two with potatoes, and one with all kinds 
of other good things, including 15 cases of soap, 10 of cocoa, 3 bales 
and 63 cases of flour and cereals, 220 kilo of pulse foods, 8 crates 
and 5 cases of cheese, 16 cases of condensed milk; also bales of cloth, 
and lard and oil. So, just before Whitsuntide, the trucks were 
attached to one of the Red Cross trains which regularly went from 
Rotterdam to Vienna. The transport cost some two thousand 
guilders, but sufficient money was gathered to pay for this also, 
through the efforts of other undergraduates in the Dutch universities. 
Our most recent effort was to raise 5 tons of lamp oil from one firm. 

Of course, besides these exertions of P.’s, there were also collec- 
tions in the different universities for Vienna, which under the leader- 
ship of local committees yielded handsome sums, but my task here 
is only to describe what one undergraduate did.”’ 


Those Dutch supplies proved invaluable in Vienna, and 
were used not only for our breakfast scheme, but also for pro- 
visioning our woodcutting and convalescent camps. But large 
~as the amount raised may seem in itself, and it equalled a money 
gift of nearly £3,000, it quickly disappeared. 


To supply even our scanty breakfast of cocoa and bread to 
5,000 students in Austria, we require half a ton of flour alone 
daily. If the scheme is to be carried on throughout the 
academic year, there are 

WANTED, 
150 tons of Flour, 
2,680 cases of Condensed Milk, 
15 tons of Cocoa. 


These quantities refer merely to our breakfast scheme, and 
take no account of supplies we are giving to Student Mensas and 
Hostels, or food for special cases. 

To clothe 3,000 Austrian Students who are in urgent need 


this winter, 


WANTED, 
10,500 metres of Cloth, 
6,000 ig ,7 dining, 
ONOU Pe mewn LC, 
3,000 pairs of Boots or Shoes, 
6,000 Shirts, 
6,000 pairs of Stockings or Socks. 

We could begin a similar work on a large scale in Poland, 
Hungary and other lands to-morrow if we had the means. Who 
will help us to raise supplies in kind? In addition to com- 
modities already mentioned, we are in urgent need of :— 

1. Food, sugar, fats, rice, invalid foods, cod liver oil, meat 
extracts, desiccated eggs, etc. 

2. Clothing, both new and second-hand, of every descrip- 
tion for both men and women, especially woollen goods and 
underwear, socks, stockings, footwear, repair accessories and 
large quantities of sewing materials. All kinds of toilet articles. 
are needed, toilet and laundry soap, washing powders, starch, 
tooth brushes, tooth paste, shaving soap, and medical skin 
creams. 

3. Fuel, especially for heating study rooms, oil stoves and 
fireless cookers, candles, electric bulbs and lamp oil. 

4. Books and other student supplies, including paper, 
pencils and ink. 

For hints on how to raise such supplies, study this article. 
For information on where and how to dispatch such goods, 
apply to the The Executive Secretary, Conrad Hoffman, 3 rue 
Général Dufour, Geneva, Switzerland. Cable Address: Flemgo, 
Geneva. November, 1920. 


WORLD'S STUDENT CHRISTIAN FEDERATION 
EUROPEAN STUDENT RELIEF. 


JOHN R. MOTT, CONRAD HOFFMANN, RUTH ROUSE, 
Chairman, Executive Secretary, Publicity Secretary, 
347, Madison Avenue, 3 rue General Dufour, 28, Lancaster Road, 


New York City. Geneva, Switzerland. Wimbledon, London, S.W. 19. 


